modern existence is suffering, DISNEY ADULTS prove it

[00:00:03][music] [screaming] adults who enjoy Disney World are mentally ill. There's a there's obviously some sort of mental illness going on here. I think more research needs to BE DONE.

[00:00:22]>> OH, MELVIN, don't pinch me. I dare not wake up. Our dream of going to Disney World as a couple is only hours away, my love.

[00:00:32]>> Cancer ridden children, men who should be on watch lists, parents having a mental breakdown on the verge of abandoning the families they once prayed for, domestic scouting for potential detonation spots, disgruntled employees one bad interaction away from scheduling an impromptu meeting with their maker publicly at that. Give those kids a summer vacation they'll never forget.

[00:00:52]And finally, Disney adults trying desperately to feel the childlike joy that life has sucked out of many of us.

[00:00:58]All of these categories of people not only make up the beautiful tapestry that is America, but also comprise the crowds that are at any Disney amusement park.

[00:01:06]The latter category, however, the Disney adult seems to be a source of confusion and but why why are Disney adults? It's a question that philosophers have pondered for millennia. Now, a Disney adult is not someone who simply likes Disney's intellectual properties, which I mean at this point probably includes Schindler's List. Maybe they get a little teary eyed when they hear the opening whales of the Lion King.

[00:01:28]Transports them back to a time before they had child support payments. So, we're not talking about like a casual Disney fan. A Disney adult is first and foremost a mega fan, dripped out in Disney swag. They stay smelling like a Beijing factory. They're usually frequent visitors of the parks. A lot of the stuff they post online tends to be Disney related. They usually are depicted as adults with no children, dual income, no dependence kind of household, but they are technically capable of reproduction at times being spotted with their offspring that I presume were conceived and birthed in the normal manner as opposed to being a homunculous creature that crawled out of a ranchstained Cinderella [music] 2 VHS, which is how I was born. Typically characterized as being averagel looking, I never seen a depiction of these people wear their raving beauties. typically [music] overweight with gummy smiles.

[00:02:15]Like this was a frequent physical trait that I saw getting mocked. I love how he nailed the Disney adult gummy smile to the point where some of these individuals have actually embraced it.

[00:02:24]>> Honestly, I had to be a Disney adult because look at these gums. Look at this ratio. It was either that or military wife and it'll be a cold day before I come one of those. So, have a magical day. I mention these physical characteristics because trust and believe these people being considered generally unattractive is a part of why the public considers them cringe. Okay?

[00:02:44]Because if you're seen as unattractive online, baby, that's already strike number one against you. And them being considered cringey is like a central component of this label to the point where somebody can, you know, selfidentify as a Disney adult and post something online. And if they seem relatively normal and clean cuz she looks like she flosses and again they're seen as being cute, there are some people who would respond, "No, girl, you're not a Disney adult. you're just somebody who likes Disney. So, it seems as if the label is contingent on someone being considered cringe. If I had to give a general list [music] of offenses that these people have committed, it would be as follows. So, these people have committed the cardinal sins of one being overly eager adults in a fandom that many see as a space that should be reserved for children. Second, said fandom being controlled by a mega corporation that many view as a creatively bankrupt nostalgia slop evil.

[00:03:34]And third, engaging in what some view as a sort of age regression, oftentimes just being in the sort of garb that they are adorned in, but in some cases resulting in a very childlike mannerisms or speech patterns.

[00:03:47]>> Oh, she's a Disney adult.

[00:03:49]>> I am not a Disney adult.

[00:03:52]>> Isn't did I see Disney stuff on that backpack?

[00:03:54]>> It's Stitch, but I'm not a Disney adult.

[00:03:57]They're telling me your honeymoon was booked for Disney.

[00:04:04]>> That fell through.

[00:04:08]>> Why? No monies.

[00:04:11]>> Okay.

[00:04:12]>> All packaged in an averagel looking 30 plus year old body. Because part of being cringe online is doing something that seemingly odd. in some cases behavior that might point to actual valid criticism, but doing so in a figure that isn't seen as inordinately attractive. How dare you? The hyperconumption and deeply parasocial relationship uh that some of these individuals have with the Disney brand are probably the most valid critiques, which I will discuss. But regarding the topic of cringe, I like cringy people.

[00:04:42]All right? I mean that sincerely. I am one [music] to many. I think that they are uh the backbone of our culture.

[00:04:48]There's such a fine line between what is and isn't considered cringey. And where that line is drawn is so subjective. If I see an individual, you know, cked out, enjoying themselves, not really harming anyone, their source of joy might not be my cup of tea. But I have gotten to an age where I am [music] too exhausted to care that deeply. You know, dare I say, I like seeing people enjoying themselves. I'll see someone frolicking.

[00:05:11][music] I go, "Good for you." It's when I scream at children at the park. The majority of the self-described Disney adults online that I've seen at least so [music] granted this is my own personal perspective. They seem like you fairly kind people minding their own business.

[00:05:27]Look at these adult women dressed up.

[00:05:29]It's just way too much. I don't understand. What do they want?

[00:05:32]Attention. It's just way too much.

[00:05:35]>> I'm ready for you. Let's go.

[00:05:40]>> Seven.

[00:05:42]I always thought that this was like an obscenely expensive habit to have. The emotional attachment that I've seen some of these individuals have is, I mean, at times concerning, but the level of sheer vitriol directed towards some of them just confused me.

[00:06:02][clears throat] >> Too much Mulan mushu pork at the airport.

[00:06:05]I'll be right back. [laughter] >> It's not Mulan. It's just Panda Express.

[00:06:09]Jasmine, >> out of my way.

[00:06:12]>> [clears throat] >> Maybe I am also at an age where sometimes I'll see like the hate bandwagon for something and I'm like, is it that deep? Some of the memes that I have seen spring out of this subculture have admittedly tickled me. [music] Listen, okay, my girl is three margaritas deep. And what? Oh, are y'all going to act like you have never been a white girl overwhelmed by the power of Polynesian culture at a screening of Moana 2? I did the same thing when I thought that I saw a Samoan [music] family through the flames of Benihana.

[00:06:47]They were in fact not Polynesian. They were just surprisingly tall Filipinos and I was politely asked to leave. This is what happens when an individual does not have bad [music] intentions but just doesn't realize how weird or exotifying their statement is coming off as. I don't have any evidence that this woman was intoxicated, but this doesn't seem like sober behavior to me. So memes like this, admittedly an odd moment, but like again it's not that deep. Then I saw these clips.

[00:07:16][music] Poo, I waited 30 years to meet you.

[00:07:27]Oh my god.

[00:07:29]I love you.

[00:07:32][music] >> [music] >> Huh? Okay. This might actually be indicative of a much deeper problem. I would argue that this [music] flavor of Disney adult reflects several components of our modern culture. extreme [music] burnout, disillusionment, many not having healthy ways of channeling emotional frustration, and people desperately [music] trying to squeeze whatever droplets of joy they can out of the dirty dish rag that is life. It's a precious dish rag, but it is dirty. Most Americans try to achieve this momentary numbing bliss through food, [music] substances, gooning, K-pop, hoarding, running the streets, worshiping Taylor Swift as a deity. a combination of these things. Feel free to add on to the list.

[00:08:36]In the Disney adults case, they find solace in the sweaty embrace of goof.

[00:08:42]So, just an exhausted man in a costume.

[00:08:44]It'll never not freak me out that this is who adults are crying over. And they know this, at least with a child, they don't understand that it is, you know, a person in costume. That is until they accidentally peer into the costume's head and then they accidentally make eye contact with struggling actor [music] inside. And then they realize that everything in life is a lie. And for many, their dreams don't come true.

[00:09:04]Anytime that I think of Disney amusement parks, I just [music] think of the the beautifully poetic Minnie Mouse video.

[00:09:09]Godspeed, Hector. This is America right here. I'm not I'm not even going to say this as a joke. The mental illness levels in this country are unprecedented. And I say that as someone who is contributing to it, as in I am part of that mentally ill statistic. Not that I'm making the numbers go up. Like, I'm not inducing psychosis in people. I wish. I haven't reached that [music] point in my CIA training yet. Why do you think I'm dressed just like Lil Bo Peep?

[00:09:29]I'm on my way to honeypot a senator.

[00:09:31]When you have multiple generations of people that are overworked, underpaid, in a society where dedication and hard work gets you no loyalty from your employer, you're getting a companywide email that says you're not going to get a bonus this year, but you peep the CEO's [music] Insta story. And that man is on a new boat, living it up off the coast of a country that only exists because it's a tax haven. Living expenses are going up.

[00:09:52]We got front row seats [music] to an empire in decline, ruled by feelic overlords who will get no earthly justice for their actions, forcing us to watch them sweat profusely on podcasts.

[00:10:04]Everything is poison. Everything is poison. Everything is poison. But you're addicted to the mush cuz it's the only thing that makes babies dopamine levels go up. Gun to my head. I can't name a single one of my neighbors, [music] can you? There's no sense of community. The religious beliefs that usually gave the hopeless comfort aren't as widespread.

[00:10:21][music] made even worse by several self-proclaimed men of God enriching themselves off of said hopeless [music] masses. And the powers at B don't even have the decency of providing quality entertainment anymore. The bread is moldy and the circuses suck. Is it any wonder that some will choose to tap into something that will remind them of their childhood joy? I'm not saying that being deeply emotionally attached to [music] the rat overlord is a healthy coping mechanism. I am saying that um I'm not surprised. This emotional attachment exists on a spectrum. Most of the individuals who I've seen self-identify as Disney adults tend to be on the less concerning [music] end where there's a consistent pattern of burnout from people who have been on the grind. Like it's not a coincidence that most of these people are, you know, like [music] 35 plus. Not that many 20-year-old hardcore Disney adults. The young people with a similar level of burnout are usually into, I don't know, hard substances or channel their frustration into being obsessed with something niche or inconsequential to their lives like Katsune Miku. I mean, both equally concerning. These Disney adults, they just want to feel giddy, take the mask off at the end of the day. They want to tap into that feeling of, you know, watching a Goofy movie for the first time and thinking, are Max and Goofy [music] black? Like canonically? Cuz the singer power line most definitely is.

[00:11:38]It's not like the cast of Aladdin are their emotional support characters. The more concerning end are people who, let's just put it this way, if you had a friend who reacted this emotionally to [music] seeing Goofy or Sleeping Beauty's castle, that joint looks like it's made out of cardboard and fondant. [music] I don't know how it hasn't disintegrated in the rain. If you saw your friend reacting like this, you would go, "Girl, are you okay?" One contributing factor is that we are living in year [music] 6PL. That's postlockdown. Both of these are post-lockdown reactions. Those months really took any underlying psychological issues or stressors that people had and cranked them [music] up to 100. So when public spaces like amusement parks began opening up again, I do think it created a much more emotionally intense Disney [music] adult a 2.0 version because I was familiar with this category of people, you know, prior to 2020. Like they're not a new phenomenon. They were busy keeping the adult tutu industry alive. And I don't think it's just me. However, post 2020, you started to see a level of intensity that I had not witnessed prior. I'm not crazy, right? Like, I don't think they were this intense before. And this is no hate to these individual women.

[00:12:48]Whenever, you know, random clips go viral, right? You always have to consider the possibility that there's stuff going on in their personal lives we are not privy to. Like, this is a random snapshot of their lives. We don't have all of the context. These are still people after all. Like, I don't think it's fair to just turn them into like a [music] joke. So maybe there was something going on in their lives that I don't know caused them to have like this, you know, wellup of emotions. It wasn't necessarily Disney related. Like I said earlier, I do think that if people had ways of channeling their stress or frustration into [music] something healthier, like, you know, day trading or physical violence, they wouldn't be developing such deep parasocial relationships [music] to these brands that are clearly like a stress release. Thankfully, the more viral clips, they do tend to be few and far between. Though, there are those who've shared their encounters with Disney adults in the [music] wild.

[00:13:38]What's the craziest thing you've seen a Disney adult do? Push kids out of the way to take pictures with characters.

[00:13:43]Lol. Go to Disney 14 plus times a year.

[00:13:48]One time, a Disney adult tried to comfort me while I was having a panic attack by telling me to imagine my fave Disney characters were on my shoulder protecting me. I got shoved out of the way for a picture. I was on my Make a Wish trip for when I had cancer. Saw a woman screaming at her kids that she didn't want to go back to the hotel because their feet hurt. They ruin everything. She was in a wheelchair. I saw a comment section about adults wishing Disney did like [music] kids free days, which was the most borderline insane thing I've ever heard. She came up to a kid and said their cancer scar looked like a hidden Mickey. Find a hidden Mickey in their divorce papers.

[00:14:21]This lady wearing all Mickey clothes unbag came into my work and got mad. We had Crocs with Mickey and Minnie because in her words, "Minnie is a [ __ ] She wanted Mickey all to herself." Now, this is the internet. Um, so you got to take any anecdote that you read with a grain of salt. I can't confirm that that Minnie story is real because I was that woman. The hidden Mickeys for context are, to be fair, what they sound like.

[00:14:43]They're just a bunch of Mickey's. Well, they're three circles that resemble Mickey Mouse that are sprinkled around the parks. I don't think you get like a prize or anything if you spot all of them. If anything, they might take you out back and shoot you for your own good because there's like 4,000 of these. How did you find them all? That's like post divorce mental breakdown behavior.

[00:15:04]They're going to make an A24 dark comedy out of your life. And the actor that they hire to play you is not going to be as attractive as you hoped and that will bother you a bit. So, trying to find these hidden Mickeys has become sort of like a scavenger hunt of sorts with some individuals getting a little obsessive, hence the hidden Mickey psychosis meme.

[00:15:21]What's also disturbing is how like weirdly idolatrous this obsession with the brand becomes. What makes this even more sinister is that the Disney Corporation wants people to be this emotionally attached to [music] the brand. Heavy fandom investment, right, and certain IPs is an integral part of the business model. It's in large part why they know that they can like pump out a bunch of schllock and they know that there are people that are such devotees to um the rodent king that they will gobble up everything that the corporation decides to dump into the trough. The merchandise [music] is so disgustingly overpriced. The price markup is diabolical and it's for what is literally cheap plastic [music] and it's made worse by the fact that this is already such an insanely wealthy corporation. This isn't like a small business. So, getting bootlike versions of what's a popular piece of merchandise that people buy besides Mickey ears, fairy wings, a Captain Hook flask, you know, he has one, a full body Maui brown skin suit, [music] and you know, people are paying full price for these things.

[00:16:21]They're not getting into the Peter Pan spirit and getting the bootleg version.

[00:16:24]I don't know how a lot of people are affording this habit. [music] It is impossible to get accurate stats on how much the average Disney mega fan is spending. I mean, first of all, how exactly would you even like objectively define a mega fan? And also, I do have to remind myself that a lot of the people that are just swagged [music] out in merch, constantly posting about their Disney vacations, like they tend to be outliers. Like the more extreme end of the hyperconumption spectrum do tend to go the most viral. So maybe the average Disney like mega fan isn't even spending that much money on the parks. It is hard to get [music] great stats on this. I know that the average park tickets for an adult, so anyone 10 plus are like 119 to 209 per person. It depends on what park you're going to, what season, but that's not even including like hotels, flights, [music] food expenses, cuz the food at these places is also obscenely expensive. I'm not spending $15 on a turkey leg. All right, I'm going to cannibalize one of the other park attendants. Preferably a courtly child.

[00:17:18]That'd be the perfect serving size. And if you didn't drive, right, or you don't want to rent a car, which is also insanely expensive, there's Ubers. Plus, if you are the one driving, you can't get crunk at Magic Kingdom. You're rubbing your drinks and the pregnant women's faces. It turns out one of them is not pregnant, which means that now she can square up with you. You did this to yourself. So, collectively, it is I mean on the lower end at least like $1,000 per person, and that's kind of like minimum. Maybe the frequent attendees just live close to the parks or something, so they don't have to worry about like accommodations. They can drive. They might have like some sort of subscription or deal. The dual income, no dependence crowd. Okay. But even then, I'd assume they'd be making, you know, at least slightly more money than the average American. But the people spending a stack on Disney regularly that are like teachers, the unemployed besides the few that are like obviously just going into debt, that must mean that like the Disney budget is a considerable portion of their budget or at least they're saving up to splurge on this, right? And look, it's [music] not my money, it's not my life, but spending thousands of dollars to travel to Anaheim, California or Orlando, Florida, it's not even like a foreign country, you know, where you can eat spaghettis [music] on the coast. We out here in Milan drinking sparkling water and eating some spaghetti. [laughter] >> Maybe for going to like Disney Tokyo or Paris or something. You know what I mean? Something about that being a splurge just don't sit right with me.

[00:18:37]Anaheim. I do think there is a contingent of haters that dislike Disney adults for reasons that are pettier.

[00:18:43]There are some Americans that really dislike it when, you know, several of our countrymen display what they consider to be the worst cultural stereotypes. you know, the classics being overweight, having arrested development, um, an affinity for like kitschy Americana, this sort of sanitized Disney ai 1950s [music] sort of aesthetic or vibe, very Mormonish.

[00:19:04]They do not view these people as being paragonss of good [music] taste. At times, it can come off as a sort of elitist looking down on what is considered low culture. Now, I'm not saying that paying $50 for a polyester [music] blend, Winnie the Pooh shirt is a dignified act. However, I am saying that there is a layer of pretension when it comes to some of these critiques. Some critics are frankly projecting [music] cuz they don't want to admit that they share some of the more intense underlying characteristics of these people. I mean, you got this guy talking about like, this is this is weird. And the people in the comment section immediately pointed out, well, then why are you there, sir? You also chose to go to that show. Let me give you an example. There are like sports mega fans that would openly think that Disney adults are weird. But in terms of hyperconumption and having a very deep emotional connection to a brand that could not care less about you, what is the difference between, you know, sports mega fans and [music] Disney fans? And I know that I can openly say that because I know that no one in my audience be watching sports like that. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I do have a bunch of [music] jocks watching me. Overall, do I think that as a culture we will learn to be um less obsessed with uh brands and trinkets and chachkis? I have chachkis to be fair, but they are cheap and they're probably like actively giving me lead poisoning. Do I think that we will ever be like emotionally healthier?

[00:20:21]Probably not. Now, if you are a self-identified Disney adult watching this, how do you feel about the criticism? Do you agree with [music] me?

[00:20:27]Disagree with me? Why do you like the brand? I mean, hopefully like in a sort of normal, welladjusted way. If you're a casual Disney fan, couldn't care less.

[00:20:34]actively hate the brand. Uh, let me know down below. Like, comment, subscribe. If you want me to talk about any random topic, drop down below. I might be talking about it. I feel so Vanna White in front of this green screen. Wait, no, she doesn't talk. She's [music] a mute.

[00:20:47]Can Vanna White speak? She's like, "Grommet trust and believe." Okay, I have not been utilizing my green screen to its full effect. I will be abusing it. As always, [music] thank you for watching. Before I shout out my Patreon, I will be making an update to my Patreon because I don't think I can really post videos on there anymore. However, okay, I'm not going to get rid of it. All right. And there [music] will be some merchandise um potentially that I will be rolling out with original artwork.

[00:21:11]So, wait for that announcement. Um I'm just saying this anyone who wants to like contribute to my Patreon. I'm letting you all know some things are going to be changing. Um or for anyone who already is on my Patreon. Just want to put that out there. Thank you for watching. Shout out to my top patrons.

[00:21:24]If you would like to donate to my Patreon, please click on the link in the description or down below. Thank you to my other lovely patrons. Your name should be scrolling on [music] screen as I speak. Bye.

[00:21:36][music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music]